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About last night ... Canadiens stomp Senators 5-2 again

Author of the article:

Mike Boone

Publishing date:

December 7, 2018 • 2 minute read

Jonathan Drouin of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates a 5-2 victory with goaltender Carey Price against the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre on Dec. 4, 2018, in Montreal.Minas Panagiotakis/ Getty Images

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The Canadiens had 43 shots on Craig Anderson, five of which eluded the Senators’ shellshocked goaltender.

There were also 13 shots that missed the net, while the home team blocked 16.

Total shot attempts: 72 – including 19 in the third period (while Ottawa had three).

The Senators had 21 shots on Carey Price. The Canadiens blocked 12, and five missed.

Total: 38.

We’re talking TOTAL domination, and we saw it in two straight games this week.

Of course, it was Ottawa.

And for a big chunk of the latest stomping, the home team was without Matt Duchene and Bobby Ryan.

Ottawa is not deep at forward. And they’re downright shallow on defence.

If Anderson hadn’t made some excellent saves, the Canadiens might have recorded double figures.

They’ve had 40 SoG or more in every game since Shea Weber returned to the lineup. And the win – combined with Boston’s loss to Tampa Bay – elevated the Canadiens to the top Wildcard playoff berth.

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Can they stay there?

The Canadiens will face tougher opponents than the Senators – starting Sunday in Chicago.

But there’s a lot to like about this team.

Carey Price has started six straight games and is rounding into form. He’s aggressive in front of his crease, well-positioned on almost every shot and handling the puck adroitly

The defence corps in front of Price – led by Weber and the guy who might be the Man Mountain’s perfect partner, Brett Kulak – is looking good. And they’ll look even better when Noah Juulsen returns, possibly in Chicago.

The Canadiens’ relentless attack featured the usual suspects:

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• Brendan Gallagher, who had nine shots on goal

• Jonathan Drouin, playing 200-foot hockey like his linemate, Max Domi, who was in the grills of various Senators all night.

• Paul Byron, who does everything exceptionally well … including adding a speed dimension to his two Finnish linemates. Gaston Therrien, on L’Antichambre, says Byron should be on the sputtering power play.

• Tomas Tatar, always innovative and dangerous in the O-zone.

The biggest takeaway from the game?

The play of the fourth line.

In Boston, Claude Julien had the best one in the league: Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell.

I’m not ready to put Michael Chaput, Nicolas Deslauriers and my man Kenny Agostino in that category just yet.

But they skate, they hit and they spend a lot of time in the opponents’ end. The line is contributing the kind of quality, double-digit minutes that must bring back fond memories for Julien.

Yeah, it was Ottawa.

But the Canadiens have put together consecutive Ws for the first time since mid-November.

And fans have until Sunday to savour the flavour.

• Cool numbers from HabsProf:Fourteen Habs made the scoresheet. Only Byron and Petry had two points.

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